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Check Out a Sneak Peek of the New Vogue Knitting

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vogue knitting winter 2012The preview for the winter issue of Vogue Knitting just came out, and there are a lot of goodies in there if you’re looking to warm up for the season.

There are five main “stories” in the issue, including odes to red, citron and blue, a look at casual sweaters for guys and bold intarsia knits inspired by nature. The magazine also introduces readers to Michael Bastian and offers a reversible Fair Isle sweater for men.

You’ll also find articles on the joys of Garter Stitch and knitting off-gauge and get tips on finishing intarsia and, ironically enough, see an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern reimagined in stockinette.

It’s kind of funny given that this is a winter issue that the pattern that first caught my eye is one of the citrons: a sleeveless shell with a high neck and bold traveling stitches that’s really striking, though I’d never knit it in that color.

See anything you like? Spill it!

[Photo via Vogue Knitting.]

 

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Knit a Hat with a Flock of Chickens

It’s well known (among knitters, anyway) that knitters seem to love chickens as a motif and a subject of our knitting projects. The Emotional Support Chicken and all the other chicken knitting patterns are just the beginning of our devotion to farmyard friends. 

For example, there’s Farmer Dennis’ Chicken Hat. This free pattern from Stacy Black is a simple worsted weight beanie sized for adults and decorate with a couple of little rounds of colorwork fences and a flock of chickens strutting around the body of the hat. 

You don’t need a lot of any of the colors for the chickens, their facial features or the fences, so this is a great project for using little leftover bits from other projects. The main color for the body of the hat is less than a skein using the yarn suggested, so you might just have everything you need in your house to start stitching up this hat right away. 

The colorwork is presented as a chart, with a 16 stitch section that repeats around the body of the hat. All the color changes are shown on the chart but I think it would be easier to knit the whole chicken in the chicken color and add the eye, beak and other features using duplicate stitch when the knitting is done. That way you don’t have to carry those yarns around the whole hat for just a few stitches. 

As the name suggests, the original hat was given to a farmer who shared their eggs, but anyone who raises chickens or just has a thing for the fowl is sure to love this cute hat. It wouldn’t be too difficult for someone new to stranded knitting or reading charts to make, either, so if that’s you, give it a try. 

The pattern is available for free on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Stacy Black]

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